


write an epitaph?

by monadoboy



Category: Mother 2: Gyiyg no Gyakushuu | EarthBound
Genre: Other, the zombie apocalypse oregon trail? this is it, you know organ trail? not oregon trail
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-29
Updated: 2014-12-29
Packaged: 2018-03-04 05:43:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2954381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monadoboy/pseuds/monadoboy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ness smiles at Poo and sighs. This was a hallucination, right? It sure felt like one, but...<br/>It's good to be home.<br/>(zombie au fanfiction. nesspaula reference? slightly implied? whatever)</p>
            </blockquote>





	write an epitaph?

Life is a gamble, and once you hit the bottom of the sack, you’re weightless.  
  
It was on this journey that Ness learned just how dangerous cars really were, and how dire their situation was. They’d spent 32 hours beforehand collecting supplies and made a run for it at four in the morning; a perilous trip from Washington D.C. to the new ‘Safe Haven’, Oregon. The beginning alone was rocky, so rocky, and the entire party was so happy that they’d all stocked up on medkits, not for the first time.  
  
 **Jeff was bitten by a zombie.**  
  
The station wagon resounded with murmuring and promises that Jeff, we’ll keep you alive as long as we possibly can. Your journey with us can’t be over yet. You won’t turn unless your health goes down. He nodded and smiled along, still offering tips, advice, and helping with trades.  
  
The medkit supply decreases nominally.  
  
 **Porky was bitten by a zombie.**  
  
It was the first major injury that Porky had suffered (the other four were all so, so jealous of Pig King's invincibility), and though Ness was his best friend, once, he put down Porky with a passionate fervor, and the entire car couldn’t help but rejoice that the scourge on their food supply was now six feet underground.  
  
The medkit supply doesn’t decrease at all. They don't waste a single one on his sorry soul.  
  
 **Paula was bitten by a zombie.**  
  
Ness feels the ‘no’ escape his lips like breath after a swift kick to the lungs. Jeff rushes to assure her that they will do for her as they do for him; keep her alive as long as possible, to the point where maybe they could even make it to Safe Haven together. She's pleasant about the whole situation, but Ness isn't sure how. Poo, Jeff, and Paula all band together in the back of that station wagon as Ness's conscience slowly falls apart, his heart breaking a bit with every hour.  
  
 **Jeff came down with the fever.**  
 **Paula came down with the fever.**  
  
They tried so hard to save him; Ness spared no expense, until finally, Jeff's health was so low that the blond-haired man just smiled and asked Ness to pull the trigger before he turned. Paula watches it all with a skeptical eye, very much aware that she was next, with the same ailment. As life breathes out, Ness sucks it in along with an apology.  
  
The medkit supply decreased by one, but it was unable to repair the psychological damage done.  
  
They know now due to poor Jeff (corpse laying somewhere between Kentucky and Missouri) that Paula can't survive this; she finally cracks once Jeff's gone, and only lasts a few more hours before Ness has to put her down as well; despite Poo's warning, he kisses her on the lips just to see if she'll wake up, though the bullet that he himself put in her head is clear and visual.  
  
The medkit supply decreases nominally, while the food amount grows.  
  
 **Poo was bitten by a zombie.**  
  
Ness's sanity finally retracts and he finally just begs Poo to tell him that it's not true; it's some horrible, awful joke. He's able to deny it for a while.  
  
 **Poo was bitten by a zombie.**  
  
The second time doesn't reinfect him, and they sit in total silence until Poo finally asks if the air conditioner is working as it sits on full blast while they traverse the southwest United States.  
  
 **Poo came down with the fever.**  
  
Ness sighs and promises to take him as far as he can. Poo only lasts until Las Vegas.  
  
The medkit supply decreases a little bit. They didn't try all that hard this time.  
  
It's a long and lonely stretch between the next four landmarks and Safe Haven. Ness spends it in near complete silence, narrowly avoiding death by certain diseases.  
  
 **Ness was bitten by a zombie.**  
  
He doesn't care anymore.  
  
He finally makes it to Safe Haven with the feverish feel of typhoid, vaguely hearing "we need to get the gas back on" and nodding, running out with a shotgun to get the missing gas tanks, scattered around the sorry excuse for a camp.  
  
He gets seven out of the nine necessary.  
  
The horde finally gets him.  
  
He can't say he's unhappy. It's not light out, or dark, it's simply stagnant, and growing quieter. That last one got the best of him.  
  
 **Ness died.**  
  
 **Write an epitaph?**  
 _ **No crying until the end.**_  
  
"Paula! Paula, I think he's waking up."  
"Oh, good.”  
Ness blinks, eyes opening blearily to two of the faces of his concerned friends.  
"You--"  
"He is awake," Poo says gladly.  
"But-- You're," Ness manages, all three of the others softly shaking their heads. He doesn't remember falling asleep at all.  
"We all made it to Safe Haven in one piece, as well as we could expect, really," Jeff says in a almost humming tone, smiling and gesturing to his broken arm.  
Ness tilts his head and Jeff drinks part of a glass of water before offering the rest to Ness. "From Porky," he says, lifting the arm a bit.  
"He went trading without us one night and _apparently_ had money he didn't contribute to the pot, which he used to buy some sort of injection that he put into you--"  
"--we don't know what it is, but you seem to have come out of the fever alright," Poo says happily.  
  
They go on to explain that they'd thrown Porky out on the deadly streets of Chicago, Paula taking control of the car without another word.  
  
Ness smiles up at Poo and sighs. This was a hallucination, right? It sure felt like one, but...  
  
It's good to be home.  
  
Something about the warmth of everybody feels delicious.  
  
Delicious.  
  
Ness looks down at his arm as the others chat amongst themselves, eyes widening in horror.  
  
 **Ness was bitten by a zombie.**

**Author's Note:**

> if you wanna play organ trail you can find it right here! --> http://hatsproductions.com/organtrail.html
> 
> hey guys! thanks for reading my work. i hope to post stuff more frequently so this is a good start


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